Yuna's Final Sacrifice
by two-headed fiesta
Summary: Peace would never come without a price and Yuna would never stop giving; Rikku couldn't forgive her for it. She refused.


Rikku had never been more restless in her life. She shuffled about in a plastic-coated hospital chair, wriggling to comfort her body in the most uncomfortable place she could possibly think of. The distracting beeping and buzzing of the various machines to monitor and record did nothing to warrant sleep, either. A sigh issued from the girl. She hadn't slept in over three days.

Eye lids drooping, left leg tingling to a numbed state, hair mussed with grease - Rikku looked worse for wear than ever before conceived. The last time the Al Bhed could recall staying up for so long was during Yuna's pilgrimage. On night-duty nights, the girl would flit around and pick fights with trees and rocks and blades of grass, if she had to, to keep awake throughout the night, where she would have to continue on until next nightfall. Traveling seemed like eternity then, time nearly standing still as she sparred with the air and the wind of the night. So long ago, but so fresh in her mind. Rikku treasured those memories, even the sleepless nights.

A smile fell to pale pink lips as Rikku glanced to the other in the room. She felt a pang of guilt, to smile even slightly given the situation. Yuna should be able to smile, too, but she couldn't.

Why would anyone flaunt this ability? Tears fought at Rikku's swirled jade, she allayed with rapid blinks. _Not now, Rikku. You have to be strong for us both._ The girl sighed, giving up on her attempted slumber, and rose from her chair.

She crossed to her cousin, taking a cool hand covered in wires and drips and needles into own warm appendage. This, too, almost caught her in a wave of tears. Yuna was so cold and no one else was helping. A frantic worry spread over Rikku's restless limbs as she gently released the pale hand and flit around the room, searching desperately for a blanket. The blond convinced herself that if only Yuna was warmer, then maybe ... maybe she would wake up like magic.

The girl tore cupboard after cupboard apart, ransacking the cheap wood for a spare blanket. There just had to be one.

There just had to be!

Rikku felt the sting of tears as she rounded on the last set of storage, ignoring the heat rising to her cheeks as they fell steadily. Nothing.

At this, Rikku tossed all trust in the Bevelle hospital away. She sheepishly returned to her cousin, brushing an oily clump of hair from Yuna's closed eyes. A thin membrane had formed over her eyelashes, looking crusty and pink in the florescent lighting above. Her stomach turned. She looked so frail. So unlike the strong, resilient Yuna she loved so much. A tear fell on the plastic sheet under her cousin. "Yunie... you gotta wake up!" Her plea fell on deaf ears to her audience, but not to all parties in the room. As Rikku defeatedly stood beside the Summoner she couldn't guard, her shoulders slumped and skin took on a pallor. Violently, the girl shook her head, soft locks tracing along her back.

Both the images of woman laying on the bed and the one so desperate to hear those machines start up with new life were heartbreaking. Slowly, the newcomer inched toward Rikku's slouching figure. The girl leaned forward, giving a ginger hug to her cousin. "You've just gotta wake up, Yunie! Think about Tidus. He came _all_ the way back from the Farplane, just to be with you. We defeated Sin, Yunie! You're so much stronger than this. How stupid is this, an illness taking down the Summoner who lived? We've all given up so much, Yunie. We all love you so much. What'll little Vidina do without Auntie Yuna to teach him how to shoot a gun and play blitz the right way? What'll Tidus to do without you? What'll Spira do without you?" Rikku paused, breathing raggedly as she forced herself to continue on. "What'll I do without someone to bail out and follow to the ends of Spira and back? You're so selfish sometimes, Yunie! Up and leaving me like this! I don't know what to do with myself without you to come up with some crazy plan to save Spira. I've been your Guardian for so long now. It's almost four years I've protected you. You're so selfish, Yunie. Why wouldn't you let me protect you now? I've... I've tried **so** hard. I've done all I can, Yunie. You're - you're so selfish!" Rikku cried, clinging tightly now to her cousin. The figure stopped short.

He shouldn't be witnessing this. Tears fell loudly in the small room, the noise almost unbearable. The beeps of the machines littering the walls quieted as Rikku's voice ran out once more, this time slipping into rough Al Bhed. "You're so damn selfish all the time! I hate you, Yunie. I hate you so much right now. Just come back to me, dammit!. I miss you so much!" A final wail filled the air before the figure stepped forward his last paces. He slipped a hand on the girl's heaving back, her brightened jade turning to glare and soften all within moments of one another. Rikku ripped herself from Yuna's limp form to cling to the blond intruder. "She can't just leave us like that, Ti. She can't --"

"I know," Tidus offered, holding his cousin-in-law tightly, a tear falling from his own bright cerulean. "I know. But we've got to be strong for her now, like she was for us. We just have to pray that the fayth is still watching over her. I think they are. I don't think they ever stopped, Rikku. We just have to be strong for her right now. That's all she wants from us."

Rikku nodded, tears slowing slightly. The beeps filled the room again, a painful longing with them as the girl sent one last look at her cousin as she was forced from the room. Tidus promised that she would still be there, waiting for Rikku to come back after a nap. Rikku took one last long good look at her cousin, memorizing the shadow of a smile that lived within the High Summoner. She memorized the sound of her laugh, the warmth of her touch. She memorized the kindness in her eyes and the confidence and ever-present insecurity in her voice.

As Rikku walked down the hall to the waiting room's couches, falling into a deep sleep of her own, Yuna fell. She fell hard and fast, condition spiraling from stable to vacant in moments. Meanwhile, Rikku slept, memorizing the sound of the fayth crying in a dream - no, a nightmare - that was all too real.

But when the girl awoke, Tidus shaking her to life, Rikku was at peace because she knew Yuna was too. She finally earned her own Eternal Calm, with her dreams fulfilled at last. The tears would come and go, this the girl knew, but Yuna's peace, the calm she worked so hard for, both eternal and emotional, had come. And in this, Rikku found her own calm. The one she had never before felt. It was strong and proud, but gentle and sweet all at once. It was Yuna's final sacrifice.


End file.
